DECEMBER 2015 Unemployment Data–the Full Count*
(U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS)
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT: 5.0%*
| White |
4.5%
|
| African American |
8.3%
|
| Hispanic |
6.3%
|
| Asian** |
4.0%
|
| Persons with a disability** |
10.3%
|
| Men 20 years and over |
4.7%
|
| Women 20 years and over |
4.4%
|
| Teens (16-19 years) |
16.1%
|
| Black teens |
23.7%
|
| Officially unemployed |
7.9 million
|
*If the LFPR were at its pre-recession level, the unemployment rate in December 2015 would have been 6.7% instead of 5.0%. [See “The Labor Force Participation Rate and Its Trajectory”]
HIDDEN UNEMPLOYMENT
| Working part-time because can’t find a full-time job: | 6.0 million |
| People who want jobs but are not looking so are not counted in official statistics (of which about 1.8 million** searched for work during the prior 12 months and were available for work during the reference week.) | 5.9 million |
Source: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf See also Current Employment Statistics–Highlights
**Not seasonally adjusted.
*See Uncommon Sense #4 for an explanation of the unemployment measures, and Is the Decline in the Labor Force Participation Rate During This Recession Permanent?.
In addition, millions more were working full-time, year-round, yet earned less than the official poverty level for a family of four. In 2014, that number was 19.3 million, 17.7 percent of full-time, full-year workers (estimated from Current Population Survey, Bur. of the Census, 9/2015).
In October 2015, the latest month available, the number of job openings was 5.4 million. Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary, December 8, 2015. Thus there are approximately 3.7 job-wanters for each available job.
Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary
Unemployment Rate Vastly Understates Labor Market Weakness EPI